U.S. patent number 7,386,796 [Application Number 10/404,809] was granted by the patent office on 2008-06-10 for method and equipment adapted for monitoring system components of a data processing system.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Newisys Inc.. Invention is credited to David Alan Garrison, Richard Ormond Simpson, Yiqin Zhao.
United States Patent |
7,386,796 |
Simpson , et al. |
June 10, 2008 |
Method and equipment adapted for monitoring system components of a
data processing system
Abstract
One embodiment of the disclosures made herein is a data
processing system adapted for enabling at least one of presence and
operating condition of system components installed in the data
processing system to be monitored. Examples of presence include
installed and uninstalled. Examples of operating conditions include
temperature, voltage, current, duty-cycle, etc. The data processing
system includes provides a user interface adapted for displaying a
1:1 mapped representation of the data processing system. Operating
conditions of installed system components may be assessed via the
user interface. A system component that is installed in its
respective location in the data processing system (e.g., in a
particular socket) is depicted in the 1:1 mapped representation of
the data processing system as being installed in a corresponding
location of the data processing system. After performing an
operation for installing a particular system component in its
respective location of the data processing system (e.g., adding
additional memory in an empty memory slot), the user interface is
updated automatically to depict the particular system component as
being installed in a corresponding location in the 1:1 mapped
representation of the data processing system. A displayed system
component representation of a failed or failing system component
may be highlighted in the user interface for aiding in identifying
the failed of failing system component.
Inventors: |
Simpson; Richard Ormond
(Austin, TX), Garrison; David Alan (Austin, TX), Zhao;
Yiqin (Austin, TX) |
Assignee: |
Newisys Inc. (Austin,
TX)
|
Family
ID: |
39484520 |
Appl.
No.: |
10/404,809 |
Filed: |
April 1, 2003 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
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60402686 |
Aug 12, 2002 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
715/736;
714/E11.179 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F
11/3024 (20130101); G06F 11/3031 (20130101); G06F
11/3034 (20130101); G06F 11/3055 (20130101); G06F
11/328 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G06F
15/177 (20060101) |
Field of
Search: |
;715/736 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
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5261044 |
November 1993 |
Dev et al. |
5491495 |
February 1996 |
Ward et al. |
5767852 |
June 1998 |
Keller et al. |
5801699 |
September 1998 |
Hocker et al. |
5852440 |
December 1998 |
Grossman et al. |
6078324 |
June 2000 |
Phathayakorn et al. |
6128016 |
October 2000 |
Coelho et al. |
6167533 |
December 2000 |
Potterveld et al. |
6392667 |
May 2002 |
McKinnon et al. |
6900822 |
May 2005 |
Germain et al. |
|
Primary Examiner: Wlley; David A.
Assistant Examiner: Nguyen; Le
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Galasso; Raymond M. Galasso &
Associates, LP
Parent Case Text
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application claims priority to co-pending U.S. Provisional
Patent Application having Ser. No. 60/402,686 filed Aug. 12, 2002
entitled "Realistic Hardware Images For Presentation Of System
Status", having a common applicant herewith.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of displaying the user interface having a system
component view, the system component view comprising: a system
component composite image depicting a plurality of system
components active in a data processing system; a plurality of
information display elements, wherein at least a portion of said
information display elements is superimposed on a respective one of
said system components depicted in the system component composite
image; and wherein a first portion of the system component
composite image is processed for reducing detail thereof and a
second portion of the system component composite image is processed
for enhancing detail thereof; and wherein the first portion of the
system component composite image for reducing detail includes a
system component representation depicting static motherboard
features and the second portion of the system component composite
image for enhancing detail includes at least one of system
component representations depicting system components mountable on
the motherboard and system component representations depicting
component mounting elements of the motherboard.
2. The system of claim 1 wherein each one of said information
display elements is one of an information access selector and an
operating condition indicator.
3. The system of claim 1 wherein a spatial relationship of system
component representations of the system component composite image
is 1:1 mapped with respect to a spatial relationship of said system
components active in the data processing system.
4. The system of claim 3 wherein: the system component composite
image includes a plurality of system component representation; one
of said system component representations is a stacked system
component representation including a plurality of stacked system
component selectors; and information associated with a first one of
said system components is displayed when a first one of said
stacked system component selectors is selected and information
associated with a second one of said system components is displayed
when a second one of said stacked system component selectors is
selected.
5. The system of claim 4 wherein each one of said stacked system
component selectors has one of said information display elements
associated therewith.
6. The system of claim 5 wherein each one of said information
display elements is one of an information access selector and an
operating condition indicator.
7. The system of claim 5 wherein the stacked system component
representation includes selector-dependent indicia displayed
therewith.
8. The system of claim 1, further comprising: an operating
condition gauge selectively superimposed on the system component
composite image, wherein one of said information display elements
is a gauge selector and the operating condition gauge is displayed
in response to selecting the gauge selector.
9. The system of claim 8 wherein the operating condition gauge
displays real-time operating conditions.
Description
FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE
The present invention relates generally to data processing systems
and, more particularly, to methods and equipment adapted for
monitoring system components of data processing systems.
BACKGROUND
Information and the means to exchange information via computing
technology have grown to be sophisticated and complex compared to
the state of the art a mere 15 years ago. Today, computers have
become critical to the efficient function and conduct of business
in numerous sectors worldwide, ranging from governments to
corporations and small businesses. The increasingly critical role
of computing assets has, in turn, been the basis for concern from
various sectors as to the reliability and manageability of
computing assets.
System downtime events resulting from hardware problems result in
considerable expense to businesses in the retail and securities
industries, among others. Diagnosing and repairing a
hardware-related problem within a system constitute a significant
portion of the cost of system downtime. Furthermore, with networked
applications taking on more essential business roles daily, the
cost of system downtime will continue to grow.
Monitoring system components of a data processing system is known
to aid in reducing downtime and, thus, costs associated with such
downtime. Monitoring system components allows problems with
components to be identified prior to a system component actually
failing or to operation of the system component critically
affecting performance of the data processing system. In
conventional approaches for monitoring system components, it is
known to present the user with a pictorial or simplified schematic
view of the system for presenting status of temperature sensors,
voltage sensors, fan speed sensors and the like. However,
conventional approaches for monitoring system components have
limitations associated with the manner in which information is
presented.
One such limitation is that when presented with just the name of a
failed or failing component (e.g., from a list of system
components), it is often not obvious which specific system
component is failed or failing upon opening the system's enclosure.
Another such limitation is that it may still not be obvious which
component is failed or failing in the case when a diagram (e.g., a
schematic) is provided, but the diagram is not an accurate mapped
representation of a respective portion of the actual data
processing system. Still another such limitation is that inaccurate
information is presented when a diagram used to depict a particular
system is not automatically updated to recognize an added and/or
removed system component.
Therefore, methods and equipment adapted for monitoring data
processing system components in a manner that overcomes limitations
associated with conventions approaches for monitoring data
processing system components would be useful.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 depicts a user interface adapted for carrying out system
component monitoring functionality in accordance with an embodiment
of the disclosures made herein, wherein the user interface has a
composite system component view of a data processing system
displayed thereon.
FIGS. 2A and 2B depict respective embodiments for representing
stacked system components.
FIG. 3 depicts system component view of the data processing system,
wherein only processor representations are displayed and wherein
each processor representation is adapted for having temperature
sensor information displayable therewith.
FIG. 4 depicts a component identification view of the user
interface, wherein a photographic image of a suspect system
component is displayed for aiding in identifying the suspect system
component.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
Embodiments of the disclosures made herein pertain to methods and
equipment adapted for monitoring system components of a data
processing system. In accordance with such embodiments, a user is
able to determine an operating status of monitored system
components in a novel and advantageous manner. Examples of
functionality provided by monitoring system components in
accordance with embodiments of the disclosures made herein include
simplifying correlation between system components represented in
the user interface and actual system components, providing visual
feedback as to whether optional system components are installed,
and providing a simple approach for assessing detailed information
associated with individual system components.
Monitoring system components in accordance with embodiments of the
disclosures made herein of a data processing system contributes to
reducing downtime of a data processing system and, thus, with
reducing costs associated with such downtime. Monitoring system
components in such a manner allows problems with system components
to be identified prior to a system component actually failing or to
operation of the system component critically affecting performance
of the data processing system. Embodiments of the disclosures made
herein support monitoring system components and identifying system
components that have one or more out-of-spec operating conditions
through in a manner that is advantageous relative to conventional
approaches.
Identifying an actual failed or failing system component upon
opening the data processing system enclosure is made easier through
display of a mapped representation of the data processing system.
In one embodiment of the disclosures made herein, the mapped
representation is a 1:1 mapped representation. The 1:1 mapped means
that system components are mapped with the intent of being
accurately mapped in a 1:1 manner. However, issues such as display
resolution, manufacturing tolerances, etc. will generally preclude
1:1 mapping in an absolute, precision sense.
In such a 1:1 mapped representation, spatial relationships (e.g.,
relating to location and/or size) of each displayed system
component representation in the user interface are approximately
the same as for the actual system component of the data processing
system. Also in one embodiment of the disclosures made herein, the
displayed system component representation of the failed or failing
component is highlighted (e.g., by making it brighter, hiding other
system component representations, drawing a border around it,
showing in reverse contrast, showing in a particular color or some
other technique) for aiding in locating the actual failed or
failing system component, thus simplifying inspection and/or
replacement of the failed or failing system component.
Displayed system components representations in a user interface in
accordance with embodiments of the disclosures made herein are
presented in a dynamic manner with respect to system components
installed in the actual data processing system. Only system
components that are actually installed in the system have a
corresponding system component representation displayed in the user
interface. Locations for optional system components (e.g.,
available memory slots) in the actual data processing system may be
displayed in the user interface via a corresponding displayed
system component representation (i.e., an uninstalled system
component representation). Upon installing such an optional system
components (e.g., a memory card), the user interface is
automatically updated and a representation of the newly installed
system component is displayed.
Operating information of system components may be visually assessed
via a user interface in accordance with an embodiment of the
disclosures made herein. For example, each system component
represented in the user interface may have a visual indicator
displayed therewith for designating when a critical operating
condition (e.g., a upper limit operating temperature) has been
achieved. A user may specify operating condition limits via the
user interface.
Each system component represented in a user interface in accordance
with an embodiment of the disclosures made herein may have one or
more sensor icons displayed therewith. By selecting a particular
sensor icon, actual operating condition information corresponding
to the particular sensor is displayed. In at least one embodiment
of the disclosures made herein, the operating condition information
is presented real-time.
Turning now to specific figures, a user interface 100 adapted for
carrying out system component monitoring functionality in
accordance with an embodiment of the disclosures made herein is
depicting in FIG. 1. The user interface 100 includes a system
component view 105, a displayed system component designation field
110 and a displayed sensor designation field 115. The user
interface 100 is displayed on a visual display of a data processing
system (not specifically depicted). A monitor and a server are
examples of the visual display and the data processing system,
respectively. In at least one embodiment of the disclosures made
herein, system component monitoring functionality is provided via a
Graphical User Interface (GUI) subcomponent of a Service
Processor's System Management component.
The system component view 105 includes representations of system
components constituting a corresponding data processing system.
Such representations of system components constituting a
corresponding data processing system are referred to elsewhere
herein as displayed system component representations. The displayed
system component representations are mapped with respect to the
corresponding data processing system. The term mapped refers to
each displayed system component representation having at least a
relative position approximately the same as the relative position
of each actual system component in the data processing system. In
one embodiment, the displayed system components are mapped with
respect to relative size and relative position. It is contemplated
and disclosed herein that such displayed system component
representations may be in the form of photographic representations,
illustrated representations, block diagram representations and/or
another form of representation.
As depicted in FIG. 1, the system component view 105 includes a
motherboard representation 120, a plurality of central processing
units (CPU's) representations 125, a plurality of disk drive
representations 130, a floppy drive representation 135, a compact
disc (CD) drive representation 140, a service processor
representation 145, a power supply representation 150, a plurality
of memory module representations 155, a plurality of cooling fans
158 and a plurality of open memory module sockets 160. The
plurality of central processing units (CPU's) representations 125,
the plurality of disk drive representations 130, the floppy drive
representation 135, the compact disc (CD) drive representation 140,
the service processor representation 145, the power supply
representation 150, the plurality of memory module representations
155 and the plurality of open memory module sockets 160 are
depicted in spatial relationship to component mounting surface 165
of the motherboard representation 120. Each one of the CPU's 125
and the power supply 150 have at least one of the cooling fans 158
associated therewith.
The system components referred to in FIG. 1 are examples of system
components in a data processing system. It is recognized that a
representation of a data processing system in accordance with an
embodiment of the disclosures made herein may include one or more
other system components. Such one or more other system components
may be of a type different than that disclosed herein. Furthermore,
certain components that are conventionally affixed to a motherboard
may be represented in the motherboard representation 120.
The motherboard representation 120, the plurality of central
processing units (CPU's) representations 125, the plurality of disk
drive representations 130, the floppy drive representation 135, the
compact disc (CD) drive representation 140, the service processor
representation 145, the power supply representation 150, the
plurality of memory module representations 155, the plurality of
cooling fans 158 and the plurality of open memory module sockets
160 are examples of displayed system component representations. At
least a portion of the displayed system components has indicia
associated therewith. The indicia are intended to aid in visually
identifying a respective one of the displayed system component
representations. Text (e.g., textual information depicted in FIG.
1), graphics (e.g., icons representing functionality or operation)
and a combination thereof are examples of such indicia.
Each installed system component representation depicted in FIG. 1
(e.g., the plurality of disk drive representations 130, the floppy
drive representation 135, the compact disc (CD) drive
representation 140, the service processor representation 145, the
power supply representation 150, the plurality of memory module
representations 155) has an operating condition indicator 170
associated therewith. An example of a visual indicator capable of
being displayed in different colors is the operating condition
indicator 170. The operating condition indicator 170 is an example
of an information display element. The operating condition
indicator 170 is maintained in a first state (e.g., a first color,
a first shape, a first indicia, etc.) when a corresponding
installed system component is operating according to a first
condition (e.g., a normal operating condition). The operating
condition indicator 170 is maintained in a second state (e.g., a
second color, a second shape, a second indicia, etc.) when a
corresponding installed system component is operating according to
a second condition (e.g., a critical operating condition).
In many data processing systems, certain system components are
stacked (i.e., stacked system components) in a direction
perpendicular to a mounting surface of a component mounting
substrate (e.g., a motherboard). Accordingly, some system
components are hidden below other system components in the data
processing system. For example, two or more drives may be stacked
such that at least one of the drives is hidden. Various approaches
are contemplated herein for displaying stacked components in the
system component view 105. In one embodiment (depicted in FIG. 1),
a representation of a first stacked disk drive (e.g., disk drive A
or floppy drive) is displayed adjacent to a representation of a
second stacked disk drive (e.g., disk drive B or CD drive,
respectively).
In another embodiment (depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B), a first
selectable tag 175 represents a first one of a plurality of stacked
system component and a second selectable tag 180 represents a
second one of the plurality of stacked system components. A stacked
component representation 183 comprises a plurality of selectable
tags (i.e., including the first selectable tag 175 and the second
selectable tag 180). In response to selecting a particular one of
the selectable tags (e.g., the first selectable tag 175), the
stacked component representation 183 changes to depict a
corresponding system component (e.g., depicting "Disk Drive A",
"Compact Disc Drive", etc). It is contemplated herein that visual
aspects of the stacked component representation 183 (e.g., indicia,
shape, color, photographic image, illustration, etc) are dependent
on which one of the plurality of selectable tags is selected. In
such an embodiment, system component representations are displayed
in a layered-orientation and information associated with each one
of the system component representations is selectably displayable.
Accordingly, system component representations in such an embodiment
are displayable in a 1:1 mapped manner relative to system
components of the actual data processing system, even though two or
more components are disposed in stacked orientation.
Tags as referred to herein are examples of stacked system component
selectors. It is contemplated herein that other embodiments of
stacked system component selectors (e.g., discrete buttons) may be
implemented in place of selectable tags. Selection of a particular
stacked system component selector activates monitoring
functionality (e.g., a temperature sensor) associated with the
respective one of the plurality of stacked system components.
Indicia (e.g., letters, acronyms, icons, etc) may be used for
distinguishing each stacked system component selector. It is
contemplated herein (as depicted in FIG. 2) that an operating
condition indicator 170 may be associated with each stacked system
component selector.
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, the displayed system component
designation field 110 and the displayed sensor designation field
115 are adapted for allowing displayable system components and
displayable sensors, respectively, to be selected for being
displayed. In response to selecting a particular displayable system
component selection (e.g., processors) and a particular displayable
sensor selection, the system component view 105 is updated (as
depicted in FIG. 3) for displaying only system component
representations of the selected type and gauge representations
corresponding sensors of the selected type. In response to
selecting a gauge representation 185 (e.g., via hovering over a
cursor the gauge representation or clicking the cursor on the gauge
representation), a corresponding operating condition gauge 190 is
displayed. The gauge representation 185 is an example of an
information access selector and the information access selector is
an example of an information display element.
Examples of displayable system component selections include, but
are not limited to: All (i.e., all system components), Processors,
CPU's, Service Processors, Fans, Drives (all types), Hard Disk
Drives, CD's, Floppy Drives, Memory and Optional System Component
Locations. Examples of displayable sensor selections include, but
are not limited to: None (i.e., display no sensors), Temperature
Sensors, Fan Speed Sensors, Duty-Cycle Sensors, Voltage Sensors and
Current Sensors. It is contemplated herein that some system
components have one of more sensors integrated therein from the
manufacturer (e.g., a temperature sensor within a processor die),
while other sensors are added-on to system components after their
manufacture (e.g., adding a temperature sensor to a printed circuit
board for monitoring a processor surface temperature).
FIG. 4 depicts a component identification view 200 of the user
interface 100. The component identification view facilitates visual
identification of a suspect system component that needs to be
inspected, replaced and/or repaired (e.g., via a system event view
or via a portion of a diagnostic framework). To this end, a
displayed system component representation 205 corresponding to the
suspect system component is displayed in a highlighted manner by
hiding all other system component representations. Highlighting the
displayed system component representation 205 corresponding to a
suspect system component (e.g., a system component that is failed
or failing) aids in locating the suspect system component, thus
simplifying inspection, replacement and/or repair of the suspect
system component.
It is contemplated and disclosed herein that an operation may be
performed for displaying a photographic image (e.g., a photographic
image that is high-resolution, color or the like) or digital image
of a suspect system component of a data processing system. For
example, as depicted in FIG. 4, a photographic image 210
corresponding to a suspect system component may be selectively
displayed (e.g., superimposed in front of at least a portion of
displayed system component representations). One example of the
operation for selectively displaying the high-resolution
photographic image includes selecting an image view icon for
causing the high-resolution photographic image to be displayed.
Another example of the operation for selectively displaying the
high-resolution photographic image includes positioning a cursor on
the suspect system component, depressing a particular button of a
mouse (e.g., a right-most button) wherein an image view menu
selection is presented.
In at least one embodiment, the displayed system component
representation 205 of the suspect system component is a
non-photographic representation (e.g., an illustration) and the
photographic image 210 is enlarged relative to the displayed system
component representation 205. To further aid in identification of
the suspect component, providing an image of the suspect component
in relation to a reference/background system component is useful.
For example, a high-resolution image of a processor as mounted on a
corresponding motherboard may be displayed. One embodiment of
facilitating such photographic image functionality includes
associating each displayable system component representation with a
corresponding photographic image (e.g., in a relational
database).
In one embodiment of the disclosures made herein, the displayed
system component representations are actual photographs of data
processing system components (e.g., processors, memory, drives
units, available component sockets, cooling fans, power supplies,
etc) superimposed in their actual relative positions in front of a
photographic background image of a printed circuit substrate
associated with each of the data processing system components
(e.g., a motherboard). It is contemplated herein that
image-processing techniques (e.g., changing saturation, contrast,
highlighting specific parts, etc) may be used to reduce a clutter
appearance in the background image. Furthermore, it is contemplated
that images of the components of interest may be enhanced (e.g.,
brightened, sharpened, colored, etc) to make them stand out from
the background image. The combination of images (e.g., photographic
picture, digital picture, illustrated image, etc) of data
processing system components superimposed on an image of a
background component (e.g., a motherboard) is referred to herein as
a system component composite image. Accordingly, a first portion of
the system component composite image is processed for reducing
detail thereof and a second portion of the system component
composite image is processed for enhancing detail thereof.
Representations of non-component receiving elements (e.g.,
surface-mounted capacitors, resistors, diodes, etc) are examples of
the first portion of the system component composite image.
Representations of mountable system components (e.g., processors,
drives, memory modules, etc) and of component mounting elements
(e.g., sockets) are examples of the second portion of the system
component composite image.
As mentioned above, the disclosures herein contemplate mapping
displayable system component representations with actual system
components of a data processing system. A technique for
accomplishing such mapping includes generating displayable system
component representations over a realistic image (e.g., photograph,
1:1 scaled schematic, etc) of the data processing system and then
discarding or hiding the realistic image. Accordingly, relative
location and relative size of displayed system component
representations are mapped with respect to the corresponding
locations in the actual data processing system. Relevant
information for each displayable system component representation
(e.g., relative size and relative location) may be maintained in a
relational database and associated with relevant system component
information.
An advantage of system component monitoring functionality as
disclosed herein is that presence and operability of components may
be assessed. Presence and operation of actual system components are
synchronized with corresponding displayed system component
representations in the user interface. For example, a CPU is
assessed by a user via monitoring functionality disclosed herein
and is found to have two memory DIMMs associated with it, even
though a user knows that he installed four DIMMs. Monitoring in
accordance with an embodiment of the disclosures made herein
provides a visual indication that the memory installed by the user
has some problem. Accordingly, the user knows that two of the DIMMS
have been removed or are not active in the system. It is
contemplated herein that a component may be recognized as being
active in a data processing system even though it is not operating
properly.
It is contemplated and disclosed herein that presence of system
components may be facilitated via a BIOS of a data processing
system of directly by a service processor of the data processing
system. In the case where presence is facilitated via the BIOS,
presence information is reported to the service processor by the
BIOS. In the case where presence is facilitated directly by the
service processor, a pin or contact of each system component may be
used as controlling switch functionality for designating presence
(e.g., switch open means system component not installed, switch
closed means component installed).
Note also that although an embodiment of the present invention has
been shown and described in detail herein, along with certain
variants thereof, many other varied embodiments that incorporate
the teachings of the invention may be easily constructed by those
skilled in the art. Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to
problems have been described above with regard to specific
embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to
problems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage,
or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be
construed as a critical, required, or essential feature or element
of any or all the claims. Accordingly, the present invention is not
intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein, but
on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives,
modifications, and equivalents, as can be reasonably included
within the spirit and scope of the invention.
* * * * *